San Mateo County election will include two write-in candidates who just missed filing deadline

By Bonnie Eslinger

Daily News Staff Writer

Posted:
05/07/2014 07:27:33 PM PDT

Updated:
05/08/2014 12:57:47 AM PDT

The mail-in ballots that started going out Monday won't contain the names of two candidates who are running for San Mateo County seats in the June 3 election.

That's because they entered the races after the official deadline for nominations expired and are now counting on voters to write their names on the ballots.

One of the write-in candidates is Christopher Shenfield, a Burlingame personal injury lawyer who is running for judge in a contest that includes Superior Court Commissioner Susan Greenberg and criminal defense attorney Jeffrey Hayden. All three are seeking the seat vacated by Superior Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman when he was appointed in February to U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

The other write-in candidate is San Mateo County sheriff's Deputy Juan Lopez, who is challenging his boss, Sheriff Greg Munks.

Lopez said his election effort isn't about trying to bash Munks but about "taking the office into a different direction."

"I'm pretty much trying to run a clean campaign," said Lopez, a Redwood City resident and 26-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office.

That said, Lopez in his campaign documents accuses the Sheriff's Office of being "reactive versus proactive" and promises to develop short-term and long-term policy strategies and to do ongoing reviews of crime trends to ensure public safety and quality of life.

He also pledges to restore the county's sex crime and domestic violence units and beef up staff training.

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The 50-year-old Lopez said he had been contemplating a run for sheriff since last year and didn't intend to be a write-in candidate, which is an "uphill battle."

But when he went to file his nomination papers on the March 7 deadline day, he was told for the first time that he needed to present the signatures of 20 county voters. Lopez said although he left the elections office that day and quickly secured the signatures, he got caught in traffic and didn't make it back to the San Mateo office by the 5 p.m. closing time.

Shenfield, 51, said he missed the filing deadline because he decided at the last minute to jump into the judge race.

"I had thought there would be a couple of other candidates that might run, so I was a little disappointed when I saw that it was just Greenberg and Hayden," Shenfield said during a phone interview Monday. "I've been practicing law for 17 years representing individuals in the community and I think I'd like to now serve the community as a whole as a judge."

Because Greenberg and Hayden both work for the county -- Greenberg as a court commissioner and Hayden as a defense attorney paid through the county's private public defender program -- Shenfield says he's the "only candidate outside the government bubble" who can bring a different perspective to the bench. He said he also wants to see the county's court system do more outreach to the Hispanic community.

Both men say they are not deterred by the long shot they are taking as write-in candidates.

"It's not going to be easy for me, I recognize that," Shenfield said. "I'm going door to door, talking to people, pushing to get myself known."